US Troops accused of mosque massacre

Unlike the US puppet, Sadr is the only one who has said the people behind the secterian violence are actually the americans.

Sadr is the only one who wants to unite the sunni's and the shia against the americans.

For now i have faith that the mehdi army will fight again.

. And anyways we have known that most of the police are Shiite, and since the Interior Ministry is controlled by Shiites,

The interior ministry are run by the badr brigades, the death squads that the US are funding, different to the puppet police who have sympathies with
the resistance.. But both of these groups are controlled by america.

Senior ministers from the three main Shia factions united yesterday to denounce an American raid on a Baghdad mosque complex in which at least 20
people died, opening the biggest rift between the US and Iraq's majority Shia community since the toppling of Saddam Hussein.

Baghdad's governor, Hussein Tahan, a member of the rival Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution of Iraq (Sciri), announced that local officials
were ending their contacts with the Americans in protest at the killings. "The Baghdad provincial council has decided to stop dealings in regards
to services and politics with the coalition forces because of the cowardly attack on the mosque," he said.

The interior minister, Bayan Jabr, also of Sciri, who has been strongly criticised by the US embassy for his links with Shia militias, told Al-Arabiya
TV: "Entering the mosque and killing worshippers was a horrible violation. Innocent people inside offering prayer at sunset were
killed."

Interesting development - Shia groups start to UNITE aganst US after the mosque attack. Well, that was pretty much expected.

Iraq's radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr may turn to political advantage the bloody results of a U.S.-Iraqi raid on a mosque compound in
Baghdad.

Political analysts say anger over the killings is likely to give Sadr political ammunition both on the street and at the negotiating table with Iraqi
leaders who have been struggling to form a government more than three months after elections.

"Sadr has always appealed to the poor and disadvantaged. These killings will enable him to recruit more people for his Mehdi Army militia," said
Hazim al-Nu'aimy, a political science professor at Mustansiriya University in Baghdad.

It looks like the recent "Raid at Mosque" not only United rival Shia groups in Iraq, but also BOOSTED power to Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Shi’ite political leaders accused U.S. troops of killing the 20 worshippers at the Mustafa mosque on Sunday but police and residents said many
died in clashes between U.S. troops and militiamen loyal to radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

US military spokesmen have not commented on the accusations.

“No one is protecting us,” shouted Hamid Taayab, his voice raised in anger. “If it wasn’t for the Mehdi Army we would be slaughtered in our
homes.”

Ofcourse - the US Military DENIES everything, saying that Iraqi's FAKED the Massacre.

U.S. commanders in Iraq on Monday accused powerful Shi‘ite groups of moving the corpses of gunmen killed in battle to encourage accusations that
U.S.-led troops massacred unarmed worshippers in a mosque.

"After the fact, someone went in and made the scene look different from what it was. There‘s been huge misinformation," Lieutenant General Peter
Chiarelli, the second-ranking U.S. commander in Iraq, said.

Government-run television has shown footage of bodies lying without weapons in what Shi‘ite ministers say is a mosque compound run by radical cleric
Moqtada al-Sadr. The security minister accused Iraqi and U.S. troops of killing 37 unarmed men.

Giving the first U.S. military briefing on Sunday‘s events in Baghdad, Chiarelli said the raid by about 50 Iraqi special forces troops backed by
some 25 U.S. "advisers" had been the fruit of long intelligence work. But he said he did not know the religious affiliation of 16 "insurgents" who
were killed.

Excellent Intelligence I must admit!

And also Excellent Misinformation - just don't know from WHICH Side...

Originally posted by Syrian Sister
After all, why do they need him when they have Sistani...

Because sadr has a militia and is young and able enough to command it.

Unlike the US puppet, Sadr is the only one who has said the people behind the secterian violence are actually the americans.
And yet does nothing, he placate the crowds though a populist message, and meanwhile his actual practices, such as not taking his militia into all out
war or calling for a nationwide uprising, or inviviting the iranians to come in and liberate them, are aids to the americans. He's a 'front'.

Sadr is the only one who wants to unite the sunni's and the shia against the americans.

Unite them in their anger against the americans, control them, tone down teh violence, and then the US can leave, secure that a malleable agent has
things under control.

For now i have faith that the mehdi army will fight again.

Sure, they might very well clash with US troops again. What would the 'evil controllers' of the US care about that though? All the better to have
propaganda like that for your shills no? I mean, do you really think tha the US is so sensitive to shiite religious sensibilities and the subtle
dynamics between al-sadr and al-sistani, at the beginging of the occupation, such that they wouldn't've put a bullet in his head the moment
he rose up against them??? Its not like al-sadr is some shadowy figure running from safe house to safe house and too hard to get at.

So if the Sunni's hate you, and you now admit the shia's hate you.
What is it you are doing in iraq?

Taking it over, duh!

What should the US care if the people their hate the US??? So long as they can't attack the US, it works out.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Champions of the poor or sectarian thugs? A crisis over a U.S.-backed raid on an Iraqi mosque that cost at least 16 lives has
again thrust attention on a Shi'ite militia led by fiery young cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

His Mehdi Army fighters were guarding the Baghdad mosque complex at the time of Sunday's assault and shot at Iraqi troops as they approached,
witnesses in the neighborhood said.

"The Iraqi forces tried to enter the mosque and the Mehdi army fired at them. Iraqi forces entered the mosque and killed people," car mechanic Ali
Jabber told Reuters.

Sadr's aides denied the Mehdi Army was involved in the violence and said the dead were innocent worshippers.

U.S. commanders have talked only of "terrorists" holding a hostage in the compound and say the bodies of gunmen killed in fighting had been piled in
the mosque to simulate a massacre.

So were they innocents? Or members of Sadr's Army?

It looks like some of the witnesses have counter the claims that nobody fired on the Iraqi
commandos and that they did not kill worshippers.

"22 Terrorists killed while firing at coalition troops from a mosque in the hopes that they wouldnt shoot back. Iranian/Syrian backed
insurgancy leaders see the propaganda value in hindsight of US routing..

Every Iraqi is a terrorist? Anyone that defends his or her life is now a terrorist? Then why is it when 9/11 was on it's way [it's obvious it
wasn't Osama Bin Laden] ;You went running to Iraq? You had your chance to send people to bomb your own country so you would find an excuse to get
your butt to Iraq and steal some Oil and waittttttttttttt i forgot -Lives tooo.. Huh? Tell me Who the hell are you to say who is and who isn't.

How are we MUSLIMS terrorist when this land belongs to us? How are they terrorist when it was you who went over Iraq taking it over slowly? How are we
terrorist when every land on this face of earth you name it yours and recall history from your own ignorant knowledge? How are we terrorist when you
are the occupiers? Why not both are terrorist because there both killing innocents of people?? Why the hell nottttttttttttt????You tell me!

I would never in my life support 9/11 ever!! So wake up .....Fight those who fight you. This is our right. and if you're against it. Than i wish you
the best of luck.

posted by MsPalestinian08: “Every Iraqi a terrorist? Anyone that defends his life is a terrorist? Huh? Tell me Who the hell are you to say
who is and who isn't. [Edited by Don W]

Correcting a mistake is often difficult. Correcting a big mistake is maybe impossible. The US knew it had lost the Vietnam War at the Tet Offensive,
January, 1968. Nixon ran for president promising to end the war. Instead, he continued the Vietnam War until 1973. Five more years. 24,000 American
GIs were KIA. Perhaps 1,000,000 Vietnamese were KIA. We don’t count dead enemy. Or is it, dead enemy don't count? Then we left Vietnam on the same
terms we could have had in 1969, which is what the American people voted for and expected but did not get. The American system of governance is broken
and we don’t know how to fix it. In a paliiamentary system, we could get rid of a leader who is failing the country. Our system of fixed terms
condemns us to confusion, deception and mediocrity for 2 1/2 more years.

How are Muslims terrorist when this land belongs to us? How are we terrorist when you are the occupiers? I would never in my life support 9/11
ever!! So wake up . . Fight those who fight you. This is our right . . and you're against it . . I wish you the best of luck. [Edited by Don
W]

Pres. Bush promised to stay in Iraq until January 20, 2009. That is 32 months. The American public is becoming both disenchanted with the unsuccessful
prosecution of the war, and restive over the endless cost and rising numbers of casualties. I am sensing the current Iraqi leaders are also
disenchanted and restive. I can see the new Iraqi government asking the US to leave Iraq, and to leave quickly. Say by the end of summer, September
21, 2006. I’d like that.

posted by Seekerof: “Of further interest to whom considers it of merit try this:

The Iraqi commander of a controversial raid by joint American and Iraq forces is backing the U.S. version that left 16 Iraqis dead, CBS News
reports. In an interview the Iraqi commander says accusations that U.S. forces killed innocent civilians in Sunday's raid on a building in Baghdad
were "not true."

by Seekerof [Edited by Don W]

Promised but no WMDs. Offered but found false documents on the sale of uranium by Niger. Pushing our man Chalabi on Iraq, who may or may not be an
ordinary crook. Changing our stated goal in Iraq as circumstances change. Intelligence failures on the grossest scale become obvious then are either
openly or tacitly admitted, after the fact. All of this and more add up to a high degree of doubt and skepticism on my part of reports.

Now we are presented with what sounds to be a purely self-serving denial of a raid that may have gone well from a military point of view but which may
also have killed a large number of people not directly related to the object of the raid. Unintended consequences. Collateral damage. Two wrong doers
- the Iraqi and American commanders - support each other. What would you expect?

If the US wants to have its version accepted as truth, then it must call in a neutral observer such as the IRC - International Red Cross - or the
Green Crescent - to make its own first hand survey and report on the incident. Otherwise, this will remain a point of serious disagreement. The mere
statements of no wrong doing on our part will not lay this mess to rest.

The U.S. military was trying to send a "little reality jab" to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr when American and Iraqi troops raided a
Shiite community center and shrine over the weekend, says a top U.S. military official.

The mayor of Baghdad promptly cut off cooperation with the U.S. Embassy, and Shiite politicians suspended their negotiations to form a new government.
The U.S. military has long contemplated taking tougher steps against Sadr and his troublesome militia but has held off in the past because it did not
want to antagonize his many fervent supporters. This raid, officials say, was intended as a reminder to Sadr of the U.S. military's reach in
Iraq.

A letter from President Bush to Iraq's supreme Shiite spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, was hand-delivered earlier this week but sits
unread and untranslated in the top religious figure's office, a key al-Sistani aide told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The aide "who has never allowed use of his name in news reports, citing al-Sistani's refusal to make any public statements himself" said the
ayatollah had laid the letter aside and did not ask for a translation because of increasing "unhappiness" over what senior Shiite leaders see as
American meddling in Iraqi attempts to form their first, permanent post-invasion government.

The aide said the person who delivered the Bush letter "he would not identify the messenger by name or nationality" said it carried Bush's thanks
to al-Sistani for calling for calm among his followers in preventing the outbreak of civil war after a Shiite shrine was bombed late last month.

The messenger also was said to have explained that the letter reinforced the American position that Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari should not be
given a second term. Al-Sistani has not publicly taken sides in the dispute, but rather has called for Shiite unity.

Let's be clear: the attack on the Mustafa mosque was no accident, nor was it some stupid move by a low-ranking officer who didn't know the
implications of what he was doing. The attack was a deliberate act of intimidation and provocation directed against the Shi'ia majority by U.S.
occupation authorities. It will not be the last.

The U.S. has no interest in a successful Iraq government, since it is now clear that such a government will be Shi'ia led, and close to Iran
politically. Therefore, my guess is that the fallback strategy is to rev up the Shi'ia militants, stir up civil strife, and perhaps even to get the
Sunni minority, long the heart of opposition to the U.S., to turn to the U.S. for help, as the Kurds did years back.

Any way you look at it, this is a horrible mess--one that at $500 billion and counting, is bankrupting this country, destroying its image around the
world, and killing hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis.

1) Those two soldiers where working for the special Reconnaissance regiment, which has no purpose in assasinations since that would army intelligence
corp. And they where dressed as civilians which ofcourse makes them dressed as insurgents since insurgents dont wear clothes. Hmm guess that makes me
a "soldier" doesnt it?

2) These "bombs" where never photographed, filmed nor found by the RMP's yet these policeofficers claim they had them. Funny I thought they had
photographed the men and their equipement yet no photographs where released of the weapons. More disinformation from the insurgent warmachine.

3) Security contractor with explosvies, hmm mabye that counts as an RPG, a 203 grenade launcher or even shock horror a grenade. Since all of the above
contain explosives and are all explosive. But ofcourse we are simply theorising here arent we souljah ofcourse since we know neither the facts nor
have been there. We are listening to corporate media ,governmentnal and politically contorolled media which are controlled by varios parties in this
war. To name a few: The US government, the UK governement, iraqi insurgents, political parties in iraq and iran, iran government, terrorist
orginisations across the world and varios other foriegn governments.

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